Biden takes action on housing affordability crisis

“When aligned with other policies to reduce housing costs and ensure affordability, such as rental assistance and down payment assistance, closing the gap will mean more affordable rents and more attainable homeownership for Americans in every community. This is the most comprehensive of all government efforts to close the housing supply shortfall in history,” the White House said in a Press release.

Biden’s plan also calls for incentivizing local zoning reforms and improving existing Federal housing programs while promoting the sale of government-owned single-family homes to owner-occupants or non-profits rather than to large investors.

Jerry Konter, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), said his group agrees with the White House that the key to resolving the nation’s affordability woes is to build more homes.

“The plan contains many positive elements that would help address a host of affordability challenges and improve financing options, and acknowledges the long-term headwinds, like supply chain bottlenecks and chronic construction labor shortages, repeatedly identified by NAHB members as holding back housing production,” Konter said.

Last month, NAHB members sent a letter to President Biden demanding urgent action to address the alarming affordability crisis that “threatens to derail the current housing and economic expansion.”